I’ll be attending the 2-Fast track day on September 23rd. This is the last 2-Fast event of the year, and I scrounged up enough money to do it. I haven’t been on the track since June, so I’ve really been wanting to get out and get one last track day in.
Hope to see ya’ll out there!
Well, what an interesting weekend!
First off, Congratulations to both Ross Delong from taking the track record from Mike Macconaghy on Saturday, then Mike coming back with a vengeance on Sunday and blowing the record out of the water again! 1:24.062!!!!
Holy Shiznit! That’s one fast funny guy!
Now on to my race weekend!
Friday, AF – Played around, took it easy, had some fun. Nothing too exciting.
Saturday – Morning Practice, first one I missed (Changed tires) second one I went out on to scrub in new tires.
Saturday – Novice Race: This was, by far the most fun I’ve had. This is my first time in a race since the gearing change on my bike. I geared it down some to give me more drive out of the corners. Last week during 2 fast, I noticed that the gearing was working perfectly for me. I was topping out just coming out of turn 1, which is exactly where I wanted to be for that straight.
I was gridded in the 3rd row. Had an excellent start! Blew past a bunch of people, only had about 8 people in front of me.
The race was on! Passed a few people, Lap one down!
Second lap, went by, smoothly. Got down the straight and realized I was still holding up towards the front!
Third Lap in, I started to battle it out with a couple guys. Back and fourth, back and fourth we went amongst each other!
Forth Lap in, see the halfway marker. Everything still holding! Still back and fourth! Seriously I need to get some more oomph from my bike. I could make the passes on these guys in the corners, but they would get me in the straights. It was some real close racing. Excellent racing to be honest!
Fifth lap in, still back and forth! Wow, this is really turning out to be a hell of a race!
Sixth Lap in! Same guys!
Seventh Lap in, I make the pass for fifth again in 2!! Steady Steady, Turn 3, and….. fack
I crashed… Boooo!
Lesson Learned… Final Verdict? Don’t forget to get off your bike. Going into Turn 3, I just didn’t get my self moved off enough, ended up dragging my exhaust, and pitching the rear up, and into a low side I went. Also learned that tires have my grip than exhausts… Who would have thunk it?
I can honestly say without a doubt though, the tires held like fricken glue right up until that point.
Minor Damage. Bent Clip-on, bent right pedal, and peg.
Gear Ok, Me Ok. Tiny raspberry on my left elbow from friction burn in my suit. Pride? Well, kinda cut down a bit… Funny how that works. I’m perfectly ok, yet I still feel sick!
Walk over to Brent Prindle (MotoBits Dude!) and spend 68 bucks for my rearset parts (That’s why I have MotoBits! Easy to get parts!). Already had spare clip-on. Had bike washed, and back together in an hour or so. Checked everything over on the outside. VERY minor body damage. A couple separation cracks, nothing that can’t be fixed easily.
Sunday Practice – Went out, scrubbed tires back in, got the damned dirt off of them.
Parade Lap for Fallen Rider #138 Kurt Husted who was slain in the armored car robbery at the Wal-Mart.
Sunday Novice Race - Pre Grid, ready to go!
They release us for the Warm up Lap, get halfway into 2, and….
No throttle…
Twist it with all my might… Still no throttle…
Curse the blasted thing… Still no throttle
Tell it that I love it, and will treat it really nice… Still no throttle
I think my throttle hates me!
Turn off bike, look at Corner worker… Look at bike… Look at Corner worker… Restart… Throttle!!@!!
CW tells me go go go!
I go go go! Halfway down the hill to 3… No Throttle! Error 15! FACK!!! I no Go Go Go! Error 15, my throttles way of saying “HA HA!”
I Park behind Crash Truck (Hey!) And load up bike before race even starts!
I got a great seat to watch the race though… Feel sorry for the corner workers. They were out of water. They said they would offer me some if they had some. Luckily for me, it was overcast, and not to hot out. So I was fine!
My new saying… “Mechanicals… Gods way of saying “Seriously, didn’t you get the point yesterday?”
Overall, Crappy weekend on the race front =( Some awesome racing though from the other classes!
Hope to have the gremlins figured out tonight. Want to hit up OMRRA this weekend. We’ll see!
Special thanks to Troy McCrae of Pennell PowerSports of Medford Oregon for supplying an excellent set of rubbers! Stones Rock!
Thanks to those who showed up for support! (Jared, Marcus) It gets lonely by yourself =(
Thanks to Tony and Heidi for always supporting me as well!
Stay Tuned!
There are certain things, that once I try it, I must absolutely continue to feed the addiction.
Coffee
Smoking
Track Riding
Etc…
This last weekend at ORP, I got hooked on a new addiction, one, that I must feed.
I am talking about, motards…
Now, I’ve ridden friends motards before, but only on the street.
JD Decided he was going to take his Motard down with us to ORP. This would be an excellent idea, as ORP is a tight and technical track where these types of shenanigans can take place.
JD went out his first session, came back with a huge smile on his face. It was over, he knew what he liked out there already without taking the CBR out.
The day went on, and every session he’d come back, he’d have a bigger and bigger grin on his face.
Finally… He let me take it out..
And that was it, my weekend was ruined. He gave me the first dose for free, 1 session out on it the whole weekend. Every time I went out on my R6 after that, I just kept thinking about the Motard.
Even though it is only a WR250X, I had more fun on it, than I could have on the 600, due to the track configuration. On top of that, it just was a fricken blast.
I now want one
I now desperately seek one
I now will be in more debt
I now must restrain myself from spending money on one
I now must have one though!
le sigh
#812 coming out of Turn 14 at ORP Clockwise - Photo courtesy XQSME Photography (Ben)
Well, What a wonderful weekend spent in Oregon!
Myself and my buddy JD, had signed up for the Oregon Raceway Park, two day extravaganza with 2-Fast May 16th and 17th about 2 months prior to the actual date. We had been wanting to ride this track since the first bit of blacktop went down on it.
So what can I say?
Meh…
The track is good, still needs some work, and I am not just talking facilities.
For starters, just for track itself, they really need to get a roller out there on a damned hot day, and re roll the seams. They can really screw you up going into corners or exiting corners.
Secondly, there is a couple corners going counter clockwise, that just completely and utterly screw you up, and destroy the flow of the track. Throw in the multiple blind rises, and you have yourself some problems.
Clockwise, flows much better, and there is not that break up in the flow as bad. It also does not have the blind rise problem like CCW does.
Personally, I loved Turn 15 in CW (Turn 1, CCW). It is a pretty high speed slight bend, that you drag knee without much effort.
All in all, with running it cw and ccw, I was able to get my knee down in every corner.
The Half Pipe is awesome, especially in CCW. It’s just a blast.
I took my buddies Motard out, and all I can say is, that deserves its own post. I think I found a new love!
#820 Tony Bakker and #812 Michael McLane make a pass through Turn 6 during WMRRA Round 2
So, it is WMRRA Round 3 weekend, and here I am just getting around to posting Round 2. Well that would have to do with the fact I had no place to put it! Hurray!
First off, I did not race Round 1. Secondly, I am not racing Round 3, as I am moving this weekend. What a great weekend to move, eh?
So the weekend of Round 2 started off well. I did the AF Day on Friday to dust off the cobwebs. As I have not been on the track since September of ‘08, I thought it very important to do that track day.
I am glad I did.
For starters, I had a lot of cobwebs. So bad in fact, I was running 8 seconds off from my times last year. That is not good, not good at all.
So I finished the day disappointed in my times, however, I was not let down to much.
WMRRA Weekend: Day 1 – Saturday, May 9th 2009
This day started out good. I was already setup from the day prior, so I did not have to rush to the track to get setup. Instead I opted to show up about 15 minutes after the gates opened, checked in, teched gear and bike, and back to pits. I was done before 7:30. That felt good.
I had pitted next to my Bridgestone Dude, Troy. He puts sticky tires on my bike, so I like Troy. I don’t like that he charges me for air though… I don’t care how free those tires are, charging me 350 bucks for air just drives me crazy. But although he has the most expensive air in the pits, he definitely has the most cost effective tires, that just flat out work.
Riders Meeting, blah blah blah, announcements, blah blah blah spokane blah blah, flags, go, yade yade.
I skipped the first morning practice. I was still trying to get my head around the day before, going over things in it, trying to figure out where my problem was.
Second practice, I went out, and what do you know, I knocked 3 seconds off of my best lap times from the day before. What did I do? I don’t know!
On to the Race:
Race started out great, I was gridded in the very front row (SOB!) and with the fat guy directly behind me. I actually went over to Rob Workman’s pits prior to the race and warned him that I was in front of him, and to be gentle as he sucked the paint off of my bike.
Interestingly enough, one thing I AM good at, is starts. I got an excellent start, and Rob didn’t suck the paint off until going into Turn 2. Atta boy Rob! I like Rob
Good Race, made a major screw up though going into turn 9. I went in way to hot, had to go way wide, and had to slow down to get back over to make it into the bus stop, loosing 3 places.
End of the race, Placed 11th out of 22 riders. Not to shabby, I’ll take it!
WMRRA Round 2, May 9th, 2009 - Turn 4 - Pacific Raceways Photo by Brandon Bones - Studio819
WMRRA Weekend: Day 2 – Sunday, May 10th 2009
Day 2 was even better than day 1! Slept in (No need to tech) got to the track just before 8, had a banana and half a hoagie for breakfast (gave the other half to Tony).
Riders Meeting, yade Yade, first practice, I went out and did, as we only get 1 on Sunday’. Good stuff, got it done and out of the way. I took it easy out there, so I thought, but still was managing to keep the same times I did as my best times during the race. What the hell? The cobwebs are starting to come off even more.
Race 2:
This time I was gridded in the 3rd row, directly behind Rob. Imagine that…
Rob got a good start this time, as did I. I got up next to him for about all of .005 seconds, before he finally pulled away. I hate Rob.
Now, the race was starting to go really well. I was keeping my position in 5th for a good portion, and then… Well, first I should back up to Friday.
Friday, my good boy Troy, the Bridgestone dude, told me “The tires should get you through today, but I wouldn’t push them to race on”.
Now, me being the cheap SOB that I am, I told him “Nah, they are fine, I’m not pushing them…” So lets return back to the race.
So back to the race…
Going through turn 2, I am starting to exit and WOOOSH! The rear lets go, and not just a simple little slide, I am talking a clear across, OMG OMG here comes the side of the track, let loose.
WTH!
So I back up just a smidgeon, go into turn three, seems fine, come out of turn 4, and “woosh!” again! Hrmmm
Tires not gripping well on the left side.
So I back it off a bit, and continue racing on.
I give up a few positions, and then I come into turn 9, and I can feel it stepping out. So I slow it down even more.
Overall, I finish the race… 11th again. Damn!
So I can’t complain about either day’s finish.
Anyways, I get back to the pits, I call for Troy to bring the gauge and pressures are fine. Then we examine the tire in detail.
Looks like I like to power out in the same spot on the tire a lot. Created a shelf, lowered my contact patch. Tire was gone. Considering it was a tire from last year, I can’t blame it. It done its job well.
New skins went on…
Checked Laptimes…
And knocked another 2 seconds off… Even with “backing” off, I was running constantly the same times I did as my best times the day before. Hrmmm, it’s all getting better… Hopefully we’ll see where I am next Track Day at PR and Race.
Good Weekend, not disappointed at all.
A big thanks to my sponsor, Troy Mccrae – Owner of Pennel Powersports of Medford Oregon.
Also a big thanks to all my friends who came out to support me this weekend.
